Heat Damaged Cyc

Crewguy7

Member
Last year at my former high school a VL3000 was aimed at the cyc. Normally not a problem, except the nose of the 3k was only 6 inches from it. Now there is a nice yellow spot where the heat damaged the fabric. Does anyone have any idea of a way to even slightly disguise the discoloration? We've though of chalk and Rit Dye, but we're worried about what affect it will have on light transmission.
 
I wouldn't chalk it. Dye should not change the way light travels through it. Is the cyc bleached or is it a blueish? I would say try to rebleach the entire cyc to keep it even, but try a test on the area first.
 
You are best to leave it alone, bleach will turn the yellow spot into a hole, as the heat has damaged the fibers and will weaken them, anything you use to attempt to cover it up will have an effect the the light transmission like chalk, you could patch it but that is going to be noticable also. for most cases where you are lighting it you will probably not notice the yellow spot.

Sharyn
 
CrewGuy7 are they able to turn the cyc around so the top is now the bottom? This depends on how the cyc is fixed. But this might get the patch closer to the stage and less noticeable.
 
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You are best to leave it alone, bleach will turn the yellow spot into a hole, as the heat has damaged the fibers and will weaken them, anything you use to attempt to cover it up will have an effect the the light transmission like chalk, you could patch it but that is going to be noticable also. for most cases where you are lighting it you will probably not notice the yellow spot.

Sharyn

I second sharyn. any attempt at scrubbing, bleaching or manipulating the stain in any manner will only cause the threads to fail completely. If the darkenning is only on the surface and not all the way through you could place the damaged area on a flat surface and backdraw a razor accross it. Imagine the cyc is a loaf of bread and you want to just remove the crust byt scraping a knife accross it backwards. I warn you that this is an extreme measure and only usually works for flash burned material, where only the top layer of fabric is discolored. If the fibers are damaged all the way through this will onoy succeed in destroying the area and quickening the degradation of the fibers. Bleaching is right out however. That will destroy cooked fibers quicker than anything. Good luck.
 
A lot of it depends on where the spot is and how big it is; but I also agree with Sharyn. I had a cyc once that had a 8" tear put in the center of it and we called a seamstress to come in and stich it closed, now unless you know where to look you really can't tell.
 

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